Dear diary,
I got back from OBS on Friday evening. I brought back friendships, and lessons such as persistence & perseverance, people fail even though they do their best, have faith in a person, trust and teamwork.

Kenneth and I climbed up this element that was a fairly difficult rock wall, some lil pegs sticking out of a tree trunk, up some tyres linked by chains and then a cargo net. That was really fun. we were the first pair from ACS Int to reach the top which made us really happy! Thanks Aaron for belaying me!!! Ur damn pro! Haha...

we had our land expedition and that was fun but my shoes fell to bits. We climbed to the highest point of Pulau Ubin. The view of the granite quarry below was fantastic. The breeze was lovely too. So cool and nice!! It made all the climbing with heavy bags all worthwhile. We had to hike into the forest to locate some little plates with sayings on them. It was fun but tiring.

The sea expedition was really fun. I kayaked with Kenneth from another watch and that was pretty tiring and frustrating. However we kind of made up in the end and did ok. We spent the night at Sembawang park and that was nice. The wind blew all night and it was very cooling. Only thing was that Ling who was an instructor kept poking my shoulder to wake me up. That was irritating. Arun was extremely inconsiderate. He sprawled all over, taking up the space of 3 people. And during the night, he kept kicking me and pushing me out of the basha. I could have killed him. It was so so irritating.

I kayaked back to pulau ubin from Sembawang Park with Renee. She’s really nice. And a pretty good kayaker too!! We kayaked pretty nicely, being in the middle of the fleet most of the time. However, we finished SECOND!!! Whoohoo!! It felt so good!! We both were all smiles after that. Thanks for talking to me and letting me share Ur rations on the ride back. It was really good. The company rocked!! The birdlife was amazing. I saw 3 pairs of white bellied sea eagles, 1 pair of white tailed sea eagles, and a lone brahimny kite along with some other misc birds.

The sunrise was fantastic. It was picture perfect, kayaks in the foreground, a kelong in the middle ground, an orangey sky in the background with the rising sun and on the other side, some darkness and a full moon.

My happiest moment of the sea ex was probably when Renee and I finished second.

My saddest moment of the sea ex was probably when I got out of the kayak for the last time.

We all should have an OBS watch reunion sometime. Haha!

During OBS, it was very much a bonding time for everyone. I think we all made new friends and strengthened existing friendships. More importantly for me, OBS gave me quite a lot of time with God!! I prayed a lot of the time. Every morning I prayed, every afternoon I’d pray, each evening before I slept, I’d pray. Every moment I’d spend in God's presence with all distractions shut out. If I didn’t have anything to pray about, I’d jus sit with Him and listen to his still small voice and let him tell me what he intended me to do for the day or to jus let him give me peace or joy or anything. Overall, I’m closer to him now! That really rocks!

OBS rocked!!! Now I gotta figure out how to use all I’ve learnt. I’ll post some of my journals sometime.

An Ren